The Opposite of Love
by KuroKuro Kitty
Summary: Just a short NejixTenten drabble! Kind of depressing, he tells her something and she doesn't react the way she expects him to.


**Couldn't sleep and had this scenario playing in my head, so I wrote a little NejixTenten drabble  
><strong>**I kind of had a hard time deciding who this should be about, but Tenten's my favorite, so ^.^ enjoy!**

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><p>"I slept with somebody else." Neji said it casually, but they both knew the severity of what he was saying. He knew that now wasn't the best time – in the middle of a bookstore – but he'd read something that reminded him of it and knew he had to tell her. And if not now, when? He didn't know what he was expecting from her, but the reaction she gave was the last thing he'd seen coming.<p>

"Okay." Tenten didn't even look up from the book she was holding, and he wondered if she'd even registered what he said.

"O-okay?" He had contingency plans for almost all of her reactions; angry, sad, disappointed. But this one threw him for a loop, and he had no idea how to handle the situation.

"Okay," she repeated, pausing to look up at him. A small smile crept onto her lips, but not before a pained expression clouded her face. It was slight, and hardly lasted a second, but he'd noticed. Someone who didn't know her well wouldn't have picked up on it at all, but he'd memorized her features like the back of his hand, and he saw the disappointment in the way the corners of her mouth twitched slightly downward, her eyebrows knitted together. Her smile was hardly convincing; tight lipped and small, it was such a sad smile he'd almost have rather had her frowning. "I never asked or expected you not to."  
>Tenten's words drew him back, and his brow furrowed in confusion. "But you…I suppose that's true, but I just thought it was…understood." He stopped for a moment, suddenly worried by her seeming indifference. "Have you slept with other people?"<p>

"No," she smiled, and this time he could tell it was genuine, though a sadness still sat in her eyes. "I've never wanted anyone but you."

The fact that she was still being nice to him not only confused him, it slightly frustrated him. He'd anticipated yelling, anger, crying. He didn't expect this."Aren't you…aren't you upset?"

She shrugged, going back to her book. "You aren't mine to get upset over. I could scream and cry all I wanted, it wouldn't be valid."

"No, that…that would completely be valid." It struck him that at this point, he was almost _trying_ to get her to be upset with him. He thought that he was hers, he'd even told her before that he was. He'd be upset if she slept with someone else, so why wasn't she? "Shouldn't you be angry? I mean, I broke your trust, I-,"

Neji was cut off by a short chuckle from her, and she looked up at him while shaking her head. "I never trusted you." Her words not only surprised him, they stung. For the first time in his life, he felt physical pain from something someone said – it was as if she'd just punched him in the gut. He was not supposed to be the one getting upset here. "In fact," when he didn't say anything, she continued with her sentence. "I expected you to sleep with other people, and I understand. I'm not always there, and if you want to have sex and I'm not around…well, it's only natural that you go to other people."

He stared at her, stunned, as she went back to reading her book. He _wanted_ her to be mad at him; he was mad at himself for doing it. Normally he exhibited fantastic self control, and the fact that he'd given in to this one temptation made him upset with himself – he should be stronger than that. The fact that she'd expected it angered him even further, did she really think that lowly of him? He clenched his fist, angry at her indifference and angry at himself for getting upset by it. For the first time, he didn't understand his feelings. Most people, he believed, would be delighted if they told their significant other they'd cheated and the other wasn't mad at all. But anger would've been preferable to this, this nothing. He didn't understand why her lack of reaction bothered him, but it did. He knew she was an emotionally stable person, but this was ridiculous. He wanted something, _anything,_ to let him know that what he'd done upset her.

As if reading his mind, she looked up from her book and gave him a lopsided smile. "The opposite of love isn't hate, Neji…it's apathy." Tenten closed the book and returned it to the shelf before brushing past him, heading to a new aisle and not looking back to see if he was following.

And for the first time in a long time, Neji Hyuga remembered what it felt like to hurt.


End file.
